Swimming pools, particularly in-ground pools, include one or more skimming drains or skimmers. The skimmers are adapted and positioned to receive surface water from the pool and to remove floating debris such as leaves, twigs, and insects, which would otherwise clog the pool filter. The known skimmers include a strainer basket which sits in a chamber over an intake orifice to which a suction line is attached. With this arrangement, the surface water is drawn through the strainer basket which catches the floating debris.
The strainer basket must be cleaned from time to time in order to prevent the suction line from being blocked by the debris which accumulates in the strainer basket. At such times it becomes necessary to turn off the pool filtration pump so that debris will not be drawn into the suction line and possibly into the pump or the filter where it can cause damage. The need to shut down the pump and filter system is inconvenient at best, and can result in a substantial build up of debris floating on the water surface because the debris is not being skimmed off for an extended period of time.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a means or method for cleaning the strainer basket of a pool skimmer that eliminates the need to shut down the pool pump and filter.